GS Analyst: Daily Current Affairs

Recently, the five permanent United Nations Security Council members (China, France, Russia, the U.K. and US) pledged to prevent atomic weapons spreading and to avoid nuclear conflict.

• The pledge was made in a rare joint statement ahead of a review of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) 1970.

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

• The NPT is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to foster the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of disarmament.
• The treaty was signed in 1968 and entered into force in 1970. Presently, it has 190 member states.
• It requires countries to give up any present or future plans to build nuclear weapons in return for access to peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
• It represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States.
• Nuclear-weapon states parties under the NPT are defined as those that manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive devices before 1st January, 1967.

What about India?

• • India is one of the only five countries that either did not sign the NPT or signed but withdrew later, thus becoming part of a list that includes Pakistan, Israel, North Korea, and South Sudan.
  • India always considered the NPT as discriminatory and had refused to sign it.
  • India has opposed the international treaties aimed at non-proliferation since they were selectively applicable to the non-nuclear powers and legitimized the monopoly of the five nuclear weapons powers.

According to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), India’s unemployment rate touched a four-month high of 7.9% in December 2021.

The unemployment snapshot

• India's unemployment rate crept up to nearly 8% in December.
• It was more than 7% in 2020 and for most of 2021.
• But India's rate exceeded most emerging economies like Bangladesh (5.3%), Mexico (4.7%) and Vietnam (2.3%).

Unemployment 

• Unemployment occurs when a person who is actively searching for employment is unable to find work.
• Unemployment is often used as a measure of the health of the economy.
• The most frequent measure of unemployment is the unemployment rate, which is the number of unemployed people divided by the number of people in the labour force.

Union Education Minister and Skill Development Minister recently launched NEAT 3.0, a single platform to provide the best-developed Ed-tech solutions and courses to students of the country.

NEAT Scheme

• The Ministry of Education announced the National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) to use technology for better learning outcomes in Higher Education.
• The scheme aims to use Artificial Intelligence to make learning more personalized and customized as per the requirements of the learner.
• The Ministry of Education aims to recognize the development of technologies in Adaptive Learning and bring them under a common platform so that learners can access it easily.
• It proposes to create a National Alliance with such technology developing EdTech Companies through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
• The ministry would act as a facilitator to ensure that the Adaptive Learning Solutions are freely available to a large number of economically backward students.
• Under the scheme, a National NEAT platform would be created to provide one-stop access to Adaptive Learning Solutions.
• EdTech companies would be responsible for developing solutions and manage the registration of learners through the NEAT portal.
• NEAT is aimed at taking the concept of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS) platform a step ahead.
• All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) would be the implementing agency for the NEAT programme.
• It would help to certify maximum students with highly marketable skills and would also improve the employability of students.

The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a PIL challenging the system of Inner Line Permit (ILP) in the state of Manipur and issued notice to the Centre and the state government on the plea alleging that extension of the 140-year-old Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 is "reminiscent of the colonial oppression and discrimination".

Inner-Line Permit System

• The ILP is an official travel document that allows an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period. 
• It is issued by the concerned State Government and can be issued for travel purposes solely.
• A concept drawn by colonial rulers, the Inner Line separated the tribal-populated hill areas in the Northeast from the plains. To enter and stay for any period in these areas, Indian citizens from other areas need an Inner Line Permit (ILP). 
• The concept originates from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act (BEFR), 1873.
• The main aim of ILP system is to prevent settlement of other Indian nationals in the States where ILP regime is prevalent, in order to protect the indigenous/tribal population.
• In 2019, an order issued by the President, amended the BEFR, 1873, extending it to Manipur and parts of Nagaland that were not earlier protected by ILP. 
• Thus Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram and Manipur are protected by the Inner Line.

The Prime Minister recently announced an ex-gratia relief from Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the victims of stampede at Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir.

About PMNRF

• The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was set up in January 1948, originally to accept public contributions for the assistance of Partition refugees from Pakistan.

How is the fund used now?

• The resources of the PMNRF are now utilized primarily to render immediate relief to families of those killed in natural calamities like floods, cyclones and earthquakes, etc. and to the victims of the major accidents and riots. 
• Assistance from PMNRF is also rendered, to partially defray the expenses for medical treatment like heart surgeries, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment and acid attack etc. 

Composition of fund

• The fund consists entirely of public contributions and does not get any budgetary support. 
• PMNRF accepts only voluntary donations by individuals and institutions. 
• Contributions flowing out of budgetary sources or from the balance sheets of the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are not accepted.
• The corpus of the fund is invested in various forms with scheduled commercial banks and other agencies. 
• Disbursements are made with the approval of the Prime Minister. 
• PMNRF has not been constituted by the Parliament. 

Management and Auditing

• The fund is recognized as a Trust under the Income Tax Act and the same is managed by Prime Minister or multiple delegates for national causes. 
• PMNRF operates from the Prime Minister’s Office and does not pays any license fee. 
• PMNRF is exempted under Income Tax Act, 1961 under Section 10 and 139 for return purposes. Contributions towards PMNRF are notified for 100% deduction from taxable income under section 80(G) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. 
• Prime Minister is the Chairman of PMNRF and is assisted by Officers/ Staff on honorary basis.
• The PMNRF is audited by an independent auditor outside the Government. At present, Sarc & Associates, Chartered Accountants are the auditors.